Un-chambered and OC reasoning

[Mr.Hoppes]

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[obijohn]

first, i think your confidence is not misplaced. as should we all, you have evaluated your needs and act and plan accordingly. there is no formula, no black and white, those needs are a continuum. second, i applaud your decision to satisfy the curiosity of your children. in my research, satisfying a curiosity tends to make it not so and therefore out of mind of the child. education and satisfying that curiosity is key in making our children safe around firearms.

i must disagree, in small part, with your decision to not chamber a round while carrying. i will help you defend your decision to do so and you've made a reasonable case in defense. i don't think that a chambered round makes the firearm any less safe. again your decision and i applaud you, sir, for so carefully thinking through your situation.

 

[indyjoe]

I do not see that a practical for myself. As you said, it is a personal decision. How do you not escalate a situation when you pull out your pistol, rack a round, then re holster? That could push something that would end peacefully with an undrawn weapon ready to go, to a required engagement. I personally see too many situations where the time between identifying a threat to engaging might not allow the racking of a slide. Or your weak side arm is engaged. Possibly in carrying a small child away from the threat. Would you carry the next cylinder on a revolver empty, requiring two trigger pulls? The threat that gets you is the one you do not expect.

 

[Mr.Hoppes]

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[Mr.Hoppes]

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[Metro 40]

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[indyjoe]

I tend not to put myself or family places where I would need to use my weapons. I have a heightened sense of when things are going to go wrong allowing me to extract myself and family or to chamber a round discretely before the extraction.

I think every prudent person would do the first. However, I think it is unlikely that the second can constantly be maintained. This is something we probably will not agree on and nothing wrong with that. I see wracking a round under duress as more likely to cause a negligent discharge than leaving a chambered weapon in a holster. In a holster, a chambered and unchambered weapon are just as safe. When the weapon is in your control, your kids cannot fire it. When it is not in your control, it should be locked up. Relying on not being able to rack a slide is not safety.

 

[Mr.Hoppes]

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[Mr.Hoppes]

ok[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ_lAQoS6pk"][/ame]

 

[Metro 40]

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[Coach]

Your decision

If you carry and how you carry is up to you. I do not agree with many of your decisions but I can respect them and say more power to you.

I hope not having a round in the chamber never becomes a problem for you. Someone already has said here that the trouble that gets you is the trouble you don't expect. That trouble is often lurking somewhere you don't expect.

 

[Metro 40]

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[Mr.Hoppes]

What in the hell is this sick crap?

I can't even say what I'm thinking...out of respect for Fenway's board.

It was an attempt on my part to lighten up. sorry you were SO offened.

Posts removed as not to offend.

 

[Sailor]

Good grief do we have to open this can of worms again?

These days I have removed myself from situations that are high risk.

Then why do you carry at all? or have you removed yourself from situations that would not allow you the time to rack the slide, disengage the safety, then protect your family.

When my children are aware of life and death then I will most likely reconsider my choices.

I am not even sure how to respond to this. You want to wait till they are older to be able to correctly protect them?

You are either very naive or I call BS, and you are just trying to stir the pot. If you are afraid of your gun, then get rid of it. Dont try to justify your decision to carry it unloaded to us. What kind of response did you think you were going to get? "yes you will be able to rack the slide one handed, knock off the safety and fire fast enough to protect yourself, as long as you are being aware of your surroundings though"

 

[Bigum1969]

Mr. Hoppes, thanks for sharing your thoughts. There was a thread similar to this started by SavageEagle where this was discussed. I personally respect your decision, especially since I have a 4-year old. But, I do feel that not keeping a round chambered could put you in a difficult position should you ever need to use your firearm to defend you or your family. As mentioned earlier, you may be in a position where you don't have a free hand to rack your slide.

I constantly worry about gun safety with my son around. I just try and make sure I *always* think about being safe. When I first got my LTCH (only 6 months ago), I feared carrying with a round in the chamber. I've gotten over that now and carry with a round chambered. But I never forget the responsibility I have carrying a firearm.

 

[bwframe]

Well now, wouldn't this be a difficult thread to follow if Mr.Hoppes hadn't been quoted a few times?

 

[obijohn]

mr hoppes, please don't confuse passion for abuse. some of these comments can be a bit misconstrued, or not i suppose, but i think that the majority here want to share discussion with you. iif you are solid in you belief then leave the posts, just don't rise to the bait. i didn't get a chance to view your posts prior to your deleting them. if they were provocative, then consider rephrasing rather than deleting. most of the discussions on this board have at least a glimmer of important data in them.

to those taking an agressive stance in reply to mr hoppes, please rephrase or refrain.

i personally don't agree with all you've written, as i replied earlier, but i'm with coach in supporting your decisions. we look forward to working with you and discussing just these sorts of issues with you.

 

[Metro 40]

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[quiggly]

Was just reading some encounters that were published in the December Combat Handguns magazine. I was browsing through it while waiting in a store and decided to pick it up.

The stories that I read most about people needing to pull their handgun, all have a very common theme. The situation happened so fast that they didn't have enough time to hardly get their weapon out of the holster.

Again this is the most common theme of self defense encounters while carrying in public.

Mr. Hoppes I know you are a proponent of OC.
From some of the others posts you have put out, I can only assume that by OCing that you believe this will deter a violent encounter and you could very well be correct, however consider this.

If someone did see that you were OC, and they were determined to commit a violent act, I would think that a violent offense would happen even quicker than if you were CC. Would in not be prudent to be able to use the firearm you are carrying quicker in the case that the offender was truly committed to his act?

I will use an analogy of a computer hacker. Firewalls and virus protectors will help you from a lot of the "standard" low level hackers, but in the case of a truly committed hacker, you must have a much higher level of protection at multiple access points.

As you stated you like to avoid places where you can be taken advantage of, that is great, but it is only one level of protection. Carrying a firearm openly, is another level. A truly committed offender will try to defeat you at all levels though. You sound very committed to your family and the ideology of survival and disaster preparedness. Carrying condition 1 is one more of those preparedness things. This comes more comfortable with practice and education. I suggest that you practice a lot. This will become 2nd nature.

This is my . Off soapbox.

 

[Crystalship1]

Metro 40 & quiggly =